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Adrian Mannarino matches a record where the Big 3 Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal stand out. In a generational clash against 21-year-old Jack Draper, in the final of the ATP 250 in Sofia, the 35-year-old Frenchman managed to prevail with a score of 7-6(6) 2-6 6-3 in 2 hours and 17 minutes of match, obtaining his third title of the season.
A victory that crowns the best season of the French tennis player's career, who before 2023 had only won two trophies out of eleven finals played in his sixteen-year career on the circuit. This season, Mannarino has played in four finals, winning the titles in Winston Salem, Newport and the fresh triumph in the Bulgarian capital.
These successes earned an important record, which in the past only Djokovic, Nadal and Federer had managed to achieve. The Frenchman is in fact only the fourth tennis player to manage to win at least three ATP titles in the same year after the age of 35.
Mannarino also became the first Frenchman to win three titles in one season after Tsonga and Pouille in 2017.
The words of Adrian Mannarino after the success in Sofia
A special victory therefore for Mannarino, a tennis player who probably had much less in his career than he could have achieved, given his immense talent and his spectacular left-handedness.
At the end of the match, the 35-year-old Transalpine, who will end the season as number 22 in the world rankings (his best ranking), expressed his joy for the Bulgarian triumph. "It's definitely the best way to end the year.
It's been a great year and I'm a little exhausted, but it's really motivating when you do well. I was playing very well on the court and I'm happy with the result," said Mannarino, who then commented on the match as follows: "It was very hard-fought.
I was a little lucky in the end, it could have gone either way. I don't know what made the difference today, but it did. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and today I was just a little luckier."